Rotary conveying mechanism for conveying the products of printing machines



April 21, 1942. c G. QUICK ETAL ROTARY CONVEYING MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING THE PRODUCTS 0}? PRINTING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 10, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR Cleo/7 6.- Quick 14470002 A l'v/h'refieoo April 21, 1942. 'C. G. QUICK ETAL ,2

ROTARY CONVEYING MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING THE PRODUCTS OF PRINTING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 10, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2' INVENTORSI 666/7 6.- QU/C/Q. l WY/x'am ,4. [Mb/7226600 April 1942- C. G. QUICK ET AL ROTARY CONVEYING MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING THE PRODUCTS OF PRINTING MACHINES Original Filed Nov.'l0, 1958 :s Sheefcs-She et 3 INVENTORVS Glee/7 6-. Qu/c/ Mfiki Il Z /tv A. Wife/760d Patented Apr. 21, 1942 UNITED T'i-f PTENT OFFICE ROTARY CONVEYING MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING THE PRODUCTS OF PRINT- 4 ING MACHINES Original application November 10, 1938, Serial No. 243,186. Divided and this application July 2'7, 1940, Serial No. 347,890

10 Claims.

This invention relates to rotary conveying mechanism for conveying the products of printing machines, such conveying mechanism including a rotary carrier or cylinder having gripper members to grip the leading end of th product and carry the product around with the carrier as it rotates.

The invention is more especially concerned with means to strip the product from the carrier and according to the present invention the means comprise a stationary abutment, a stripper component carried by the carrier and adapted to grip the tail end of a product between itself and the abutment and means to move the stripper component relatively to its carrier to bring it momentarily to rest during its period of co-operation with the abutment, the co-operation between the abutment and the component operating to cause the product to be pulled from the gripper members on the carrier.

The mechanism may be adapted to effect a count of the products taken from the carrier and for this purpose, the tail gripping mechanism would be caused to operate at a certain point in the rotation of the carrier for the products of the count and at a different time for the count product which, by being gripped at a different time than would the other products, is displaced from the other products.

This application is a division of an application filed November 10, 1938, on which Patent No. 2,211,791 was granted on August 20, 1940. In the drawings Figure 1 is an end elevation and Figure 2 a skeleton end elevation showing one form of construction, and Figure 3 a view similar to Figure 2 of a modified arrangement,

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, I indicates a folding blade cylinder having a folding blade 2 and 3 indicates a parallel jaw cylinder provided with two sets of folding jaws indicated generally by the references 4 and 5, the cylinder 3 rotating in the opposite direction to the cylinder I. W indicates the web which is to be severed and folded. The cylinder 3 is twice the diameter of the cylinder I so that the folding blade 2 on the cylinder I co-cperates with the jaw mechanisms 4 and 5 in succession.

The cylinder I has a cutting knife 6 which cooperates as the cylinder rotates with a gutter 1 in a cylinder 8, the web W being led between the cylinders l and 8 so that the web W is severed into product lengths.

The cylinder I is provided with pins 9 which are arranged to be projected beyond the periphery of the cylinder to take the leading end of the web W from the cylinder 8 and to convey the leading end around the cylinder I. The pins are controlled through arms 9 secured to a spindle 9 having an operating arm 9 provided with a bowl 9 which is controlled by a cam track 9 having in it a projecting part 9" which when the bowl 9 encounters it operates to rock the arm 9* which in turn withdraws the pins 9 to release the leading end of the web W.

The folding blade 2 is carried'by and extends from a block H] which normally holds the blade in a plane more or less at right angles to a radial line from the centre of rotation of the cylinder l, i. e., the blade is more or less tangential to the cylinder 1. This block is pivotally mounted in the cylinder I, and is biased by a spring H normally holding the blade in the position shown which is determined by a stop l2 in the path of v the block I, these parts being accommodated in a recess l3 in the cylinder l across which the pins 9 operate to draw the web W as the cylinder l rotates.

Each folding jaw mechanism 4, 5 (which are similar and are spaced apart consists of a part l4 fixed to the cylinder 3 and being proud of the surface thereof and a movable part l5 secured to a shaft l6 mounted to rock in the cylinder 3, the shaft l6 being provided with an arm I'I having a cam bowl I8 controlled by a fixed cam track 19.

The action of the track [9 is to move the movable part [5 towards and away from the fixed part l4 and the jaw surfaces formed between the two parts are directed so as to be in a plane more or less at right angles to a line radial of the cylinder 3.

When now the cylinders l and 3 are rotated the leading end of the web W is taken by the pins 9 and carried round with the cylinder l, the web being pulled across the recess l3 in the cylinder I. The blade 2 and the jaw parts I4, 15 approach one another and at this time the movable jaw piece IE is moved from the fixed jaw piece I4 to open the folding jaw. This movable jaw piece 15 first engages the web W where it is pulled over the recess l3 and the nose of this piece l5 flexes the web into the recess and in so doing passes it across the leading edge of the blade 2, the pins 9 being operated to release the leading end of the web to permit this action to occur. The movable jaw piece I5 is now pivoted towards the fixed jaw piece I4 and this results together with the approach of the fixed jaw piece I4 towards the blade 2, in folding the web W over the leading edge of the blade 2 and so forming a fold. The circumferential speeds of the two cylinders I and 3 are equal, and as the folding pieces l5 are moved along a path beyond the periphery of the cylinder 3 while the blade 2 is within the periphery of the cylinder I, the folding pieces move at a greater speed than does the blade, with the result that the closed pieces will (in the continued rotation of the cylindersladvance from the blade 2 and take with them the folded edge of the product which has now been severed by the knife 6 from the web W. It is to be appreciated that the foregoing operations occur during the period that the blade 2 and the jaw pieces I4, I5 being at right angles to radiallines are more or less parallel with one another, hence the folded product is stripped by the jaw pieces l4, 45 from the blade 2 more or less in a direction in line with the blade and in the same sense as the common sense of movement (during thefold forming operation) of the blade and jaw. By this means, any tendency to form a folding back of the folded edge is avoided.

In the arrangement so far described the pins 9 are caused by the projection 9 1to release the pins from the leading end of the web W in each rotation of the cylinder I, this being effected when it is desired to fold an uncollected product and both sets of jaws A, 5, operate insuccessien. In order however to enable a product to be collected on the cylinder I before the folding op eration occurs one of the sets of jaws is rendered inoperative and mechanism is provided to release the pins only in alternate rotations of the cylinder I.

To eifect this the cam projection 3 is formed on an arm 29 pivotally mounted at 2! and connected to an arm 22 fast on a block 23 engaged by an eccentric 24, on the shaft 25 of the cylinder 3. This arm 29 is caused by the eccentric 24 to rock between two extreme positions once in each two revolutions of the cylinder I; in one extreme position the projection 9' lies in the path of the bowl 9 as the bowl sweeps through the track and in the other position the-projection is below the surface of the cam 9 and hence is out of the path of the bowl- 9 Thus, in one rotation of the cylinder l the bowl 9 sweeps through the trackfl without the pins 9 being withdrawn; so that the leading end of the web W is not released in this rotation, the folding co-action between the blade 2 and the inactive folding jaws I4, [.5 does not occur and the sheet (now severed from the web) passes around with the pins 9 which pick up the fresh leading end of the web which latter finally becomes (after the severing operation) a-second product length which is collected with the first product length and carried around the cylinder l. During the following rotation of the cylinder, the projection 9 is moved into the path of the bowl 9 so that in this rotation the pins 3 release the collected products which are consequently folded off by the co-action between the jaws l4, l5 and the blade 2.

It will be seenthat the folded edge of the product gripped between the folding jaws l4, I5 is carried thereby around with the cylinder 3; in order to steady the tailing part of the folded product as it passes around with the cylinder, there is provided a driven roller 26 the periphery of which controls the product betweenv itself and the periphery ;of thecylinder 3. The roller 26 is cut away as indicated at 21 so that the jaws .15 are afforded clearance to sweep past the 'vals one product in a stream of products.

roller as the jaws are carried round by the cylinder 3.

The mechanism now to be described is provided for the purpose of stripping a folded product from the jaws l4, l5 and also to effect a count of the products as they are delivered from the cylinder 3 to a conveyor belt C, the count being aif orded by displacing at regular interthis purpose the cylinder 3 is provided with two similar gripper members 28 which have two angularly spaced gripper surfaces 23, 33, the members 28 being carried for rotation on shafts 3| mounted in the jaw cylinder 3. The shafts are provided'with gears 32 in mesh with a stationary internal gear 33 so that as the cylinder 3 retates the shafts 3d are caused to rotate and the surfaces 29, 3E) periodically projected beyond the periphery of the cylinder; one of the surfaces 29 is arranged when projected to engage the tail end of a product gripped by one of the sets of jaws I 4, I5; between itself and a normally stationary pad 34 and the other surfacej30 is arranged to engage the tail end of aproduct between itself and a second pad which is displaced from the first in the direction of rotation of the. cylinder 3, this second pad being constituted by a roller 35; the gripper members are rotated about their own axes in a direction opposite to the rotation of the jaw cylinder when the gripper members co-operate with their respective pads resulting in their forward movement 'due to the rotation of the jaw cylinder 3 being cancelled more or less by their own rotation. Hence the gripper members are more or less brought to rest during a period in which they co-operate with their pads.

During the time that products constituting the count are being delivered theleadinggripper surface 29 is projected .fIfQm'the jaw cylinder and presses the tail endof the productagainst the normally stationary pad ;34 at which time the gripper pressure exerted by the folding jaws [4, I5 on the leading end of the product is relieved; as (due to the rotation, of the gripper member about its own axis) the gripper surface is more or less brought to rest, the tail end of the product is gripped between-the surface 29 and the pad 34 and thereby held while the cylinder 3 continues its rotation; thus the product is pulled from between the folder jaws I4, I5 and falls on to the conveyor belt C which isconstantly advancing below the cylinder3.

v In order now to displace a count pmductcam mechanism is provided for moving the normally stationary pad 34 to a position clear of' thegrippersurface 29 with whichit; normally co-operates by this means although this gripper surface 29 will still be projected in the rotation of the cylinder 3 it is unable to grip the tail end of the product as the-pad 34 :isabsent. The other gripper surface; 3!! however operates togrip the tail end of a product between itself and the second pad 35 and as this operationv occurs later in the rotation of the jaw cylinder ;3 the count copy is enabled to travel further with the jaw cylinder before it is pulled from the jaws i4, [5; thus this count product when it falls on to the conveyor belt C is displaced from the regular succession of products previously gripped by the first surface 29 and pad 34 and those which will follow, for it will be appreciated that the first gripper pad 34 is rendered inoperative for only one (i. e., the count) product. This effect necessitates that the first pad 34 be'moved, out

For

of operative position and then back again very quickly and while this effect could be obtained with a cam of large size it is preferred to employ the following arrangement. The pad 34 is pivotally carried by a lever 33 and pressed by a spring 36' to the operative position shown in Figure 1. This lever is secured to a shaft 3! having an arm 33 on which is pivotally mounted a lever 39 having at its ends cam followers All, 4!, the shaft 31 having also an arm 42 on which operates a return spring 43. The followers 33, 4| are respectively controlled by two cams 4d, 45, rotated at different speeds, the cam 44 being in the form of a track into which the follower 40 enters and the cam 35 being in the form of a piece to trap the follower ll. The cam 44 is driven at the greater rate and it will be seen that although the cam 44 positively rocks the lever 39 once in each rotation, the lever 39 merely moves idly about its pivot until the cam piece 45 at the same time traps the follower 4%! to provide a reaction point for the follower 43 and hence for the lever 33. When thus both cams 43, 45 are operative together, the lever 36 is caused to be rocked against the action of the spring 43 in an anti-clockwise direction to carry the pad 34 momentarily clear of the surface 29 which as described is rendered thereby ineffective to grip the trailing end of a count product. In other words until both cams 34, 45 are operative at the same time, the lever 33 merely floats leaving the gripper pad 33 unaffected by either cam alone and since the cams have different speeds, the time of coincidence may be determined without the use of large cams.

The movable mounting of the pad 34 enables it to yield slightly to the co-operating gripper surface 29 on the gripper member and thus provide in effect a spring jaw arrangement. In order also to assist in stripping products from this pad and on to the conveyor C, a rotatable disc 46 provided with peripheral radial fingers 41 can be employed, the fingers operating as propellers to eject the products from the pad 34.

It will be understood that the shafts 3i would have two members 28 spaced longitudinally apart thereon and two spaced pads 34 and rollers 35 would correspondingly be provided so that the products are gripped at points across the width of the product.

The conveyor C could be a short one leading to an extended conveyor C leading to the front of the machine.

The arrangement described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 is adapted to deliver to one side of a machine a product severed from webs W having the title page on the same side-the product being delivered with the title page on the outside of the fold. For example, the title page would be (as seen in Figures 1 and 2) on the right hand side of the webs W and the folded product delivered to the right would be folded so that the title page is on the outside. In some cases it is required to provide a folding mechanism to fold products taken from two web runs having the title page on the same side but to deliver the products to opposite sides of the machine with both products folded with the title pages on the outside of the fold. Thus supposing that the two web runs have their title pages on the right, then the mechanism shown in Figures 1 and 2 could without modification be employed to fold products taken from the right hand web run and deliver them to the right. For the products to be taken from the left hand web run and delivered six to the left, it is necessary to provide a modified arrangement which will change the direction of the folded products. For this purpose and referring to Figure 3 many of the parts have a function similar to the function of the parts fully described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, these parts being indicated by similar numerals. In Figure 3 there are employed three cylinders 48, 49, 50; of these cylinders, the cylinder 48 is similar to the cylinder I in that it carries the sheet taking pins 3 and the folding blade 2. The cylinder 49 is similar to the cylinder 3 in so far as it carries the folding jaws I4, I 5 to co-operate as already described with the folding blade 2, this cylinder however replaces the cylinder 8 in so far as the gutter l is carried by the cylinder and moreover, the rotatable members 28 are omitted from the cylinder and are mounted on the cylinder 53 which operates as a delivery cylinder. This cylinder is also provided with two sets of gripper mechanisms 5|, 52 which constructionally are similar to the folding jaw mechanisms l, 5, i. e., they comprise arms 53 carried by a shaft 54 having an arm 55 provided with a bowl 53 controlled by a fixed cam 51, the arms 53 being disposed to co-operate with parts 58 fixed to the cylinder 50. It will be observed that this cylinder 53 rotates in the opposite direction to the cylinder 49 and thus it follows that as before the webs W led to the cylinder are taken by the pins 9 and are severed into product lengths by the co-op-eration of the knife 6 and one or other gutter I, the folding co-action between the blade 2 and the jaws occurring in every other rotation of the cylinder 48 dependent on the control of the pins 9 as regulated by the eccentric 24 as has been described with reference to Figures 1 and 2.

The folded product now passes as before around with the cylinder 49 but is transferred from this cylinder 39 to the cylinder 53 before it is delivered. To effect this the gripper jaws 53, 58 on the cylinder 53 are operated as the cylinder rotates to close on to the product taken by L the jaws I l, I5 and to take the product from these latter jaws so that the product is now carried around with the cylinder 50 with its new direction. The rotatory members 28 on the cylinder 53 co-operate as has already been described to strip the products by urging the tail end of the products either against the pad 34 operated in the manner already described or against the roller 35. In this case however the stripped product falls on to a conveyor C to convey the products to the left to a second conveyor C also moving to the left, the conveyors corresponding to the conveyors C and C except for the direction of movement.

It is to be appreciated that the counting mechanism is capable of general application to cases where a product is gripped between jaws and carried thereby around with a cylinder.

What we claim is:

1. Rotary conveying mechanism to convey the roducts of printing machines, the said mechanism comprising a rotary carrier, product grippers thereon, means operating the gripper mechanism to grip the leading end of a product and to carry it around with the carrier, and means operating to strip the product from the carrier and comprising a stationary abutment, a stripper component carried by the carrier and adapted to grip the tail end of the product between itself and the stationary abutment, and means to move the stripper component relatively to its carrier to bring it momentarily sumtantially to rest during its co-operation with the abutment.

2..Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, a second relatively stationary abutment stripper component, the two components being disposed to grip between them the tail end of a product to strip a product from the carrier as the carrier rotates, and means to move the first component relatively to its carrier to bring it momentarily to rest during its co-operation with the second component.

3. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component rotatably supported in the carrier, means to rotate the component in the carrier in the opposite direction to the rotation of the carrier, a second stripper component, means supporting the second component in a stationary position disposed to enable the first component to grip the tail end of a product between itself and the second component as the carrier rotates whereby the product is stripped from the carrier.

4. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, a secand relatively stationary abutment stripper component, the two components being disposed to grip between them the tail end of a product to strip a product from the carrier as the carrier rotates, means to move the first component relatively to its carrier to bring it momentarily to rest during its co-operation with the second component, and means to prevent at regular intervals in the rotation of the carrier, product gripping co operation between the two stripper components.

5. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, the said component having two operating surfaces, a second stripper component having two parts dis posed respectively to co-operate at different points in the rotation of the carrier with the two surfaces to grip the tail end of a product as it is carried around with the carrier and strip it therefrom, means operating normally to hold one surface and one part in relative condition to cooperate, means ope ating momentarily and quickly to cause the other surface and its part to be in relative condition to cO-operate in place of the first surface and part, and means to move the first component with respect to the carrier to bring its surfaces momentarily to rest during the period of co-operation.

6. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading and of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, the said component having two operating surfaces, a second stripper component having two parts disposed respectively to co-operate at different points in the rotation of the carrier with the two surfaces to grip the tail end of a product as it is carried around with the carrier and strip it therefrom, means operating normally to hold one surface and one part in relative condition to cooperate, means operating momentarily and quickly to cause the other surface and its part to be in relative condition to co-operate in place of the first surface and part, and means to rotate the first stripper component in the opposite direction to the carrier so that the surfaces on the carrier are brought to rest momentarily during the period of co-operation.

'7. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier the said component having two operating surfaces, a first co-operating part, a second co-operating part, the two parts being disposed to co-operate respectively at respectively different times in the rotation of the carrier with the two surfaces to strip products from the carrier at different times, means to hold one part normally in operative position and to move it momentarily and quickly out of and back to its operative position to enable the other part to co-operate, and means to move the first component with respect to its carrier to bring the surfaces momentarily to rest during the period of co-operation.

8. Rotary product conveying mechanism comprising in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers thereon, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier the said component having two operating surfaces, a first co-operating part, a second co-operating part, the two parts being disposed to co-operate respectively at respectively different times in the rotation of the carrier with the two surfaces to strip products from the carrier at different times, means whom one part normally in operative position and to move it momentarily and quickly out of and back to its operative position to enable the other part to co-operate, the said means comprising two cams, means to rotate the cams at different speeds, a member controlled conjointly by thetwo cams so that the member is operated only when one cam affords a reaction point for the other cam to operate, and means to move the first component with respect to its carrier to bring the surfaces momentarily to rest during the period of co-operation.

9. Rotary product conveying mechanism including in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers on the carrier, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, a second stripper component disposed adjacent the carrier to cooperate with the first component to strip products from the grippers as the carrier rotates, means to move the first component in respect to the carrier to momentarily bring it to rest during its cooperation with the second component, and means to move the second component out of cooperating relation with the first component at regular intervals in the rotation of the carrier.

10. Rotary product conveying mechanism including in combination a rotary carrier, means to rotate the carrier, product grippers on the carrier, means to operate the grippers to grip the leading end of a product presented thereto and to carry the product around with the carrier, a first stripper component carried by the carrier, a second stripper component disposed adjacent the carrier to cooperate with the first component to strip products from the grippers as the carrier rotates, means to move the first component in respect to the carrier to momentarily bring it to rest during its cooperation with the second component, and means to move the second component out of cooperating relation with the first component at regular intervals in the rotation of the carrier, and a third stripper component on the carrier and adjacent to the first component adapted to act to strip a product when the second component is moved from position to cooperate with the first component.

CECIL GEORGE QUICK. WILLIAM ARNOLD WHITEHEAD. 

